Tuesday 6th October - a blast of winter

We have had a cold blast of weather the last 3 days... Taupo has been cut off from Napier since Sunday. Over 300 cars were trapped in the snow drifts on Sunday! It took police and army most of 24 hours to rescue all the people.

Napier was cut off from any easy route north.

The southern exit was also cut off for about 24 hours when a rogue gunman went amok and started shooting at anyone he could see near Norsewood. He escaped across the countryside. The police had to search about 3,000 hectares. Farms were locked down and everyone told to stay indoors. Some dairy herds were not milked for 48 hours. The police took 3 days to find him! He was hiding in Norsewood Golf Clubhouse.

Hawke's Bay police are having an awful year with rogue gunmen...